Do you need a snowblower in Ithaca, NY?
Your answer for Ithaca
Gas single-stage
Ithaca gets enough snow that shovelling it all is a real job, about 8.2 tons a winter on this driveway, but storms over 8 inches are uncommon.
Before you buy, check the intake height against the deepest storm above, and plan to clear before the city plow leaves its ridge of heavy slush at the end of the drive.
A normal Ithaca winter
- Snow a year
- 63 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 2.6 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once every 3 winters
- Days with snow on the ground
- 73
Heavy, more than most snowy cities. That is about 1.7 times what a typical snowy US city gets. It tends to stay, so each storm lands on the last one.
On a two car driveway that is about 8.2 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Ithaca
- Oct0.2
- Nov4.6
- Dec12.2
- Jan16.6
- Feb14.5
- Mar12.0
- Apr2.8
Snow worth clearing runs from November to April, heaviest in January. Start and service a machine in October.
Ithaca and its neighbours
Ithaca is number 31 of 90 New York towns here for snowfall; Utica gets the most at 164 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cortland, NY | 20 | 64 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Elmira, NY | 29 | 42 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Endicott, NY | 33 | 87 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Auburn, NY | 34 | 109 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Corning, NY | 35 | 53 in | Gas single-stage |
| Johnson City, NY | 35 | 87 in | Two-stage snowblower |
Where these numbers come from
Read next: Snowblowers on a gravel driveway and Single-stage or two-stage.
NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals from Ithaca Cornell Univ, 2.8 miles from Ithaca. A normal winter, not this winter's forecast. Snow is weighed at 6.24 pounds a cubic foot, fresh and fairly dry; wet spring snow can weigh three times that.